


Prelude to Invasion

by HazardLord



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 20:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18534625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazardLord/pseuds/HazardLord
Summary: When you are a Rebel cell who intercepts an Imperial distress signal from an information depot, what are you going to do other than investigate? What you find inside could help the Rebellion or warn you of a greater threat.Note: first story in a while, so Im a little rusty with some of the grammatical rules of sentence structure.





	Prelude to Invasion

The timer on the board began the final countdown to their destination. Le'hna sat at the controls of the CR90 Corvette as it broke atmosphere above the planet Virgillia, the blockade runner shooting down to the planet below. No one spoke, too focused on the message that they had intercepted from the Imperial frequency mere days prior.

"This is DT.....requesting aid....strange creature.......slaughter....overrun....can't stop-"

The speaker had been an Imperial Death Trooper, a squad of elite commando units often tasked to important figures or objectives within the Empire. Emm had suggested that if one of them was calling for aid, it would be best if they went in to see what information they could gather, a decision Anuytat definitely didnt approve of but had been drafted. He, along with Soji, Le'hna, and Nakar, would be on the ground while Jesse and Emm would stay on the corvette and be ready with the ships cannons in the event the base was still hot.

"Alright everyone, nothing fancy. We go in, find out what happened, and get out."

Everyone nodded at Emm and began to go to their assigned posts, Nakar himself moving towards the docking bay in anticipation, one hand resting on his newly constructed lightsaber. He was by no means an expert with the weapon but he was learning, the old texts from the Dantooine temple aiding him in the endeavor. Now, here they were, at an Imperial base and all he could think was how very terrifying it was, going in without knowing the odds and that his colleagues, his friends, were counting on him.

"Coming luv?"

The honey sweet voice of Le'hna jarred him from his musings, causing him to nod and straighten. 

"Yea. Just had some things on my mind."

The crimson zabrak seemed to consider that before she gently pecked his cheek and darted off, Anuytat and Soji close behind, Nakar bringing up the rear. As they departed, Jesse watched them go, his vision mapping their progress through the Force, a frown creeping across his face.

"I'll be manning the guns."

Emm turned to the Miraluka sharpshooter, a worried expression falling across her face. 

"You see something?"

"No...that's the problem. I dont see troopers in the Force...and that transmission was too fresh to have whatever did this leave without a trace."

The Togruta information dealer frowned and stared back out as the departing group, her heart filling with dread before she rushed to the bridge to prep the ship for a quick dust off.

Anuytat was the first to reach the base's blast door, his fingers moving to a control panel and began tugging on wires and fuses, the others forming a loose semicircle around him. The mirialan wasted no time, crossing a multitude of wires and conduits in what could only be described as a web of confusion before the thick metal doors slid open. Soji gave his partner a soft smile, the sith pureblood taking his A280 Blaster and adjusting it for rifle configuration for the event they ran into swift opposition, and taking point as they entered the facility. 

Despite anticipating a lack of resistance on account of the transmition, no one anticipated the sheer carnage inside. The interior was dimly lit, service lights and consol screens broken and sparking, creating an unnatural light condition that did little to improve the sight of the bodies mere feet inside. Naval officers and Storm Troopers were strewn about in heaps, barely recognizable in their battered states. Soji grimaced at the sight, his rifle making slow sweeps of the corridors.

"Force...what happened here?"  
Le'hnas question echoed in the corridor, the flashlights under her two WESTAR-35 pistols revealing what seemed to be deep grooves cut into the walls and floor, scorch marks adorning various sections of the corridor.

Soji grunted and examined the scorch marks.  
"Firefight...troops shooting at one target. Yet there is only one side with bodies."

"A coup?" Anuytat asked, looking over one of the bodies, frowning at the shattered armor of the trooper.

"No...look at the armor. They have no blaster wounds...no burns...this damage was done by some...physical attack..."  
Nakar pointed out, a finger tracing over how a staff like weapon seemed to crush in and shatter the Stormtroopers chest. Le'hna and Soji nodded in understanding, looking over to a burst open durasteel door. 

"Wanna know whats really freaky?"

Nakar frowned at the Mirialan slicer and walked over.  
"What? Can it be any wo-"

He gasped and stood stark still, the room beyond filled with shattered and dismantled droids. Whatever had been done to the troopers and officers was several hundred times worse on the droids. 

"Like I said, freaky."

Nobody objected to that, the group making their way onward cautiously. Soji dropped back and signaled Nakar for a moment.

"You seemed to know much about the manner of which how many of these Imperials died."

"Just observation. I have seen staves used in street fights and what it does to a body."

"Then you also know nothing short of a wookie has the strength to shatter armor that effectively. Not unless-"

The initiate cut him off with a raided hand.  
"I cant sense anything. It could be because my lack of training. It could be...something is hiding from me. But I can't sense anything alive other than us..."

The brows on Soji tightened but he nodded and retook position, leading them through the facility, his rifle constantly pivoting as he looked in rooms and corridors to find any hint of what had done this. When they finally made it to the command center, Anuytat began to work on the lock, pointing out that the room had sealed shut due to the issues outside and if there were survivors, they'd have held up inside. 

Nakar unfastened his lightsaber from his belt and lowered himself into a basic defensive stance, noting how the others all pointed their weapons towards the blast doors of the compounds nerve center. Every second it took for the shielded doors caused another bead of sweat to fall from the young jedi's face, his thumb resting just beside the ignition switch for his blade, ready to deflect the first blaster bolt that came their way. What he wasnt ready for, what none of them were ready for, was the carnage.

If the bodies outside were broken, the ones inside were desecrated. Limbs were strewn across the ground, weapons and armor left in heaps, and at the center of the carnage stood an imposing figure. Resembling a massive human with a slanted forehead and gaunt, skull like facial features, the being seemed to be covered in intricate tattoos and piercings that indicated a severe tribal attitude. Yet while his, as the posture and body type fit for masculine individuals, face was a terrifying roadmap of someone that had a history of combat, the armor was perhaps what got everyone to gasp. The dark bronze armor appeared to be almost like an insects carapace, parts of it almost seeming to have the legs folded or sculpted into a fan or wing-like array behind the thing. 

“I think we found our attacker…”

Nakar nodded to Le’hna and licked at his lips, slowly coming out of his shock. Yet, despite himself, a growing feeling of horror continued to claw at him. This thing, this entity, whatever it was...he couldn’t sense it in the force.  
“Yes, but whose side is he on?”

Soji didnt give them time to decide. He approached the figure and held up his rifle, his brows pulled into a V.

“Identify yourself!”

The alien, to it’s credit, didnt seem surprised at the approach. With superb control, it turned away from the computer terminal it stood at in order to face Soji and stood at it’s full height, staring down at him. The Sith glared up at the being, three meters away and with blaster trained to center mass, he grit his teeth and repeated the question. The being grinned wickedly and spoke something in its native language, the words harsh and imperceptible, yet the intent wasn't difficult to infer as it lifted a snake-like staff and lunged for Soji.

The Sith jumped to the side and fired, blaster bolts lancing through the air with perfect accuracy to the alien's body, only for the beings armor to barely redden before returning to normal. Anuytat and Le'hna charged in at opposite sides, one firing at joints while the other began to pepper the thing with volley after volley of fire, yet nothing penetrated the shell. 

Nakar cringed and reached out with the Force, attempting to shove the thing against the wall, but nothing happened. The power was there, the intent was there, but nothing happened. Then it made sense, whatever this being was, it was disconnected from the life force of the universe. The jedi initiate watched in horror as the serpentine staff was held by the tip of its tail and was swung like a whip, the weapons body turning from rigid to flexible, curving with mouth open to strike at one of the assailants. 

While he couldn't interact with the being or its weapons, Nakar Rein didnt ignore the threat coming to his new family. Again, he reached out, but instead of targeting the alien or its weapon, he hurled part of a destroyed monitoring station at the whip. The impact of the hardware colliding with the whip was spectacular, its body actually biting into the metal before being ripped out of its master's hands and crushed several feet away. Satisfied, he ignited his lightsaber with a snap-hiss, pointing the artic blue-white blade at the being.

“Le'hna, Anuytat, start going through the databanks. Soji, cover me. As for you, I suggest you surrender. “

The alien stared at the bladed of energy before inclining his head, almost as a sign of respect, before unleashing a war cry and charging at the pair. The action unnerved the duo, allowing the being to close the short distance in only a pair of strided, shifting his body to his shoulder ducked beneath the lightsaber, dragging his armor along the blade and showing that his garb was even resistant to the fabled weapon of the Jedi Order. Soji swore and began to unleash a volley of blaster bolts on the thing as Nakar lept back, landing atop the console he hurled earlier. He began to catch his breath before a pair of needles seemed to try and pierce his boot causing alarm to race through him.

He looked down to find the staff was indeed alive and attempting to bite through his armored boot. Reflexively, he swung his blade at the thing, and while its head was pushed away, it wasnt bisected by the attack. ANOTHER thing resistant to lightsabers. Backing away, Nakar and Soji maneuvered to the blast door, noting the alien warrior stop to pick up his weapon before advancing again. 

This time, his Jedi senses out, he took up a defensive stance and watched the alien move, trying to follow it and the serpent weapon it held. He may have been unable to sense it, but every being had tells, movements that allowed that split second necessary to counter. It was a long shot, but at the moment its what they had.

“Soji, get on comms and have the others prep the ship for combat.”

The sith turned incredulous, about to retort, until the meaning dawned on him. He immediately swallowed his retort and ran back to the entrance, opening a comm channel for the others in the corvette. As he did so, the alien charged, swinging his weapon at Nakar. The jedi brought his blade up to block the strike, the blade catching the neck of the serpent before pushing back and replying with a crosscut to the abdomen. 

They continued to exchange blows, staff and saber back and forth, Nakar making a gradual retreat. The alien continued to press its advantage, attacking with ferocity greater than a Wookie Warchief, its flexible weapon trying to reach around and bite at the jedi, only to be warded off by a saber strike. Their arms seemed to blur with the speed of their swings, yet despite their apparent levels of skill, the alien seemed unharmed while Nakar was beginning to tire, the staff coming closer to his body. 

Once at the entrance, the jedi sighed and jumped away, saluting the alien with his saber raised, a gesture the stranger returned before unleashing another war cry and charging. Yet, rather than block, he dove to the right to clear the way to the corvette, Soji standing on the ramp with a smirk, pointing a small device with a laser point at the alien.

“Fire.”

An explosion of turbolaser fire erupted from the cr90, the crimson lines of destruction lancing forth and consuming the spot the alien stood. Again and again the batteries of the transport ship unleashed their devastating payload until Soji called for a cease to the bombardment. Gradually, the smoke dissipated, revealing the crater that the being once stood, pieces of its armor strewn across the area.

“Good shooting.”

Jesse snorted at Nakars comment, his voice coming from the intercom.

“Thank Soji. I couldnt see the kriffing thing.”

Nakar nodded and knelt to examine the armor pieces before pocketing one and waving the others to follow him into the facility. Once reunited with Anuytat and Le'hna, he could tell their progress was at least partially successful, a monitor activated with several lines of text displayed.

“What have you found?”

The Mirialan slicer shrugged and input several keystrokes before enlarging the text on the monitor.

“Not much. It looks like the Imps began a memory core purge before they were...well…”

“Slaughtered.”

The younger man cringed at the siths words but nodded.

“Yea. What we could find was just a few entries...listings really. Their contents were wiped but the names at least aren't. So if we find another database we can look for these in particular and cut down search time.”

They all nodded and focused on the listing on the screen. 

PROJECT: SHEEVS VISION

IMPERIAL BIOWEAPONS PROJECT: I71A

PROJECT: STARDUST RESURGENCE 

“Ill give them this much, those Imps do like their codenames.”

Everyone nodded at Le'hna’s words, but Nakar had been looking past the screen, something else was bothering him. If there was one warrior like what they saw, there could be more. If there was, where would they stand in the current conflict, and most importantly, could they be a larger threat than the Empire. 

“I think,” he began, gripping his lightsaber tightly, “we need to follow the maps from Dantooine now...head for the edge of the unknown regions.”

Le'hna frowned and eyed him softly.

“Thought you said you didnt wanna go there until we finished gathering the artifacts from the Dantooine temple luv.”

The others turned to the jedi and watched him nod with a resigned look on his face.

“I did. But whatever that thing was, it won't be the last.”

Soji was the first to catch on, scowling.

“A scout.”

“That's my thought. And if a scout is that fierce, think of the rest of the species. It was too well armed, came to an information center, and it was a blindspot in the Force.”

That caused the group to collectively gasp.

“You couldn't feel it at all?”

“No, nor could i affect it directly. And if there are others,”

He let the comment hang, knowing full well they understood. If a creature like that could give a jedi trouble, then they needed to find a way to stop any more from showing up, and those weren't answers that would be found on Dantooine.

~fin


End file.
